Giant SPIDERS in the Congo, Africa?

1. Arachnophobia (fear of spiders) in the Congo

Ajahn Chah: What's the best for the world?

Ajahn Chah (ajahnchah.org) via Ven. Sujato, Ellie Askew, Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

"The world is in a very feverish state. The mind changes from liking [craving, clinging] to disliking [hating, fearing] with the feverishness of the world. If we can learn to still the mind, it will be the greatest help to the world."

The Heart Wisdom of Buddhism

Ajahn Chah, Ajahn Mun via Ven. Sujato; Aloka, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Mano-pubbaṅgamā dhammā mano-seṭṭhā mano-mayā:

"All dhammas [phenomena, things] are preceded by the

heart, dominated by the heart, made from the heart."
 

See with your heart.

The Buddha formulated this entire Dharma (Doctrine) and Discipline from this great foundation, the heart.

So when disciples contemplate in accordance with the Dharma and Discipline until namo ["honor, homage"] is perfectly clear then mano ["mind"] lies at the end point of formulation. In other words, it lies beyond all formulations.

• Ven. Thanissaro explains namo and mano (Heart Released, § 3) Why is it that wise people—before chanting, receiving the precepts, or performing any other act of merit—­always take up namo as their starting point? ...na stands for the water element, and mo for the earth element...

Londoner Ven. Sujato, monk in Thailand

All supposings come from the heart. Each of us has her/his own load to carry as supposings and formulations in line with the currents of "the flood" (ogha).

[This happens] to the point where they give rise to ignorance (avijjā), the factor that creates states of becoming and rebirth [and therefore creates all states of suffering].

All [of this happens] from our not being wise to these things, from our deludedly holding [clinging to] them all to be "me" or "mine."

- Ajahn Mun

Letting go

Enlightened Thai monk Ajahn Chah

If we see things with real insight then there is no stickiness [clinging] in our relationship to them.

They come -- pleasant and unpleasant -- we see them, and there is no attachment. They come, and they pass.

Even if the worst kinds of defilements come up, such as greed or anger, there’s enough wisdom to see their impermanent nature and allow them to just fade away.

If we react to them, however, by liking or disliking, that isn’t wisdom. We’re only creating more suffering for ourselves.

- Ajahn Chah

The Heart Sutra?

The Heart Sutra in Japanese

Ajahn Chah listened to one of his disciples recite the Heart Sutra. When he finished, Ajahn Chah said, "No emptiness either...no bodhisatta [no being striving for enlightenment]."

He then asked, "Where did the sutra come from?"

"It’s reputed to have been spoken by the Buddha," the follower replied.

"No Buddha," Ajahn Chah retorted. Then he added, "This is talking about deep wisdom, beyond all conventions. How could we teach without them? We have to have names for things, isn’t that so?

- Ajahn Chah

Fever

Fever in the world (allbetterpediatrics.com)

The world is in a very feverish state. The mind [heart] changes from like to dislike with the feverishness of the world. If we can learn to make the mind still, it will be the greatest help to the world.

- Ajahn Chah

I went all over looking for places to meditate. I didn’t realize it was already there, in my heart. All the meditation is right there inside us. Birth, old age, sickness, and death are right there within us.

I traveled all over until I was ready to drop dead from exhaustion. Only then, when I stopped, did I find what I was looking for...inside me.

-Ajahn Chah

Boy troubles: friends with my ex? (video)

Anna Akana (youtube.com); BuzzFeedYellow; Lana Del Rey (Kanal von Lyricer1 video); Pop Trigger (news/gossip on sex life); CC Liu, Ashley Wells, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

(BuzzFeedYellow, Jan. 7, 2017) WARNING: F word! "Dating as an Indian Woman" - When you're Indian-American, being 29 and single is a big deal. If you don't believe it, just ask my mom. More

 

  What's the one question all [heteronormative] men fear [in relationships]?

(Lana Del Rey) WARNING: Hollywood sex and violence! Unofficial version of "Kinda Outta Luck"

Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) sexed many fans.

(Pop Trigger) Lana Del Rey, talking about her 2014 song “F*cked My Way Up to the Top,” admits to having slept with a lot of people in the industry to try to advance her career. However, she claims none of it helped. She also goes on to talk about how fame has caused her great depression, how her engagement fell apart because of these issues, and how she isn’t happy. The PT crew gives their views on the different subjects she mentioned. There are varying opinions when it comes to using sex to get ahead and some very insightful opinions given on the issue of depression.

• VIDEO: Why White Guys Like Asian Girls (Anna Akana)
• VIDEO: How Women Fall in Love
• Learn to dance
• Don't buy Astroglide (get FREE sample)
• VIDEO: How I feel about dick pics
 

SEEKING ASIAN FEMALE (video)

CC Liu and Seth Auberon, Wisdom Quarterly; Debbie Lum (SeekingAsianFemale.com), Stephanie Foo and Glynn Washington (SnapJudgment.org)

 

What if an older Caucasian male started chasing young Asian females?  Is it right?  Is it racist?

  

"Seeking Asian Female" is an eccentric modern love story about Steven and Sandy. He is an aging White male with "Yellow Fever," obsessed with dating Asian women; she is the young Chinese bride he eventually finds online.

 

Chinese-American filmmaker Debbie Lum documents and narrates their lives with skepticism and humor, from the early stages of Steven's search through to the moment Sandy visits California for the first time and a year into their precarious union. 

 

 

Global migration, Sino-American relations, and the perennial Battle of the Sexes all weigh on the fate of their marriage in this intimate and quirky personal documentary.

 
Lum set out to make a documentary exposing the loathsome "Yellow Fever" phenomenon. She began filming Steven, a 60-year old white man, and Sandy, a 30-year old woman from China. But when they need a translator, Lum uncomfortably finds herself on the other side of the camera.
 
Watch the story unfold. It is screening in San Francisco on March 23, 2013. For nationwide locations and dates, Seeking Asian Female.

Mutant Mosquitoes set Loose

(...ology.com) Malaysia has just unleashed 6,000 mutated mosquitoes into the wild in the hopes of thinning the population of disease-carrying parasites in their home country. A picture of the inevitable insectoid future:

Imagine waking to the unceasing sound of a dull but insistent whine, huddled atop a forgotten hill at the fringes of what was once civilization. Imagine an Earth whose plentiful fields have all been transformed, through decades of skeeter domination, into enormous, steaming swamps. Imagine the bloodsucking swarms drift like baleful clouds over the skies of the world's great cities, probing the ruined towers for survivors with their slime-slick proboscises.

And all because a country wanted to do something about a dangerous disease. The facts in the case are as follows: Malaysia intends for its 6,000 newest civil servants to help stop the spread of dengue fever... More>>

• More (...ology.com)

Do you suffer from desire?
Buddhism teaches that [tanha, "craving"] is the root of all suffering, and... I’m in this bind when it comes to Buddhism.

First Mammoth cloning experiment now underway

Keanu Reeves says "Matrix" 4 and 5 coming

Buddhist Artist Spotlight: Duncan Sheik
A practicing Buddhist, Duncan wrote a forward to the book The Way of Youth: Buddhist Common Sense for Handling Life’s Questions and regularly works for human rights issues in Tibet and elsewhere.

The Pope blesses social networking

"Hunger Games" movie finally gets release date

Why "Women's Magazines" can s*ck it
I read the book Wherever You Go There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn and it really resonated with me: this is the life I'm leading RIGHT NOW. Slow down, take things for what they are, and learn to celebrate the moment. You don't have to be an expert in mediation or Buddhism to appreciate that... Women aren't the only ones looking ahead (in fact, many women are scared of the future or commitment)...

Beating back Mosquito-borne Epidemic

Workers in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, fumigate city streets as part of a campaign to curb the breeding of mosquitoes (AP/Eranga Jayawardena).

Dengue fever -- an acute febrile disease caused by a mosquito-borne virus that affects tens of millions of people a year worldwide -- is a particular threat in tropical areas such as Sri Lanka. And health officials there say this year's epidemic is the worst since 2000.

So far this year, 146 Sri Lankans have died of dengue fever, and more than 10,000 have been infected. Unlike many tropical diseases, dengue is as serious a threat in cities as it is in rural areas. The situation in Sri Lanka is made worse by the tens of thousands of Tamil civil war refugees crowded into displacement camps during the recent climax of the country's culmination of decades of fighting.

Officials expect the situation to worsen soon with the beginning of monsoon season. "We are very worried about the outbreak of diseases," Suresh Bartlett, the director of the Sri Lanka program for the aid agency World Vision, said last week. "When the rains come in two weeks or so, I can't imagine what conditions will be like due to the lack of any proper drainage and toilet system." Source